Lawmakers are targeting a deadly development in the battle over opioid abuse: powerful synthetic opioids that are trafficked in to the U.S.
A bipartisan bill introduced Tuesday in both the Senate and House aims to stop the trafficking of synthetic drugs such as fentanyl, which are 50 times more potent than heroin. The Synthetics Trafficking & Overdose Prevention Act aims to target weaknesses in the international mail system that enables the drugs to get into the U.S. from overseas.
Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., introduced the Senate bill Tuesday. Reps. Pat Tiberi, R-Ohio, and Richard Neal, D-Mass., introduced a House companion bill.
“This crisis is being made worse by an influx of deadly synthetic drugs coming into our states from places like China and India,” Portman said.
Portman was a chief sponsor of the Comprehensive Addiction Recovery Act, which was a comprehensive package signed into law last year that aimed to expand treatment options for heroin and prescription drug abuse, which has reached an epidemic level, and expand access to an overdose antidote naloxone.
Overdose deaths from fentanyl and other synthetic opioids such as tramadol have spiked in recent years. The number of synthetic opioid deaths increased by 72 percent from 2014 to 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The bill aims to target how the drugs are getting into the U.S. via the mail system.
Unlike UPS or FedEx, the U.S. Postal Service doesn’t require advance electronic customs data for “the vast majority of mail entering the United States,” according to a statement announcing the bill. “Because of the volume of mail, Customs and Border Protection cannot manually scan these packages and stop illicit goods from crossing our borders.”
The bill would require postal shipments from foreign countries to provide electronic advance data such as who and where the package is from, where it is going and what is in it. The data must be provided before the shipments cross the border into the U.S.
